(I wrote this piece for the March 2023 newsletter of the California Association of American Mothers, Inc.: https://www.americanmothers.org/)

Why do we love good stories so much? Because life itself is a story.

In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we refer to the future as the “blank page.” The idea is that we are all part of the one big story that God is “writing,” yet He gives us the freedom to choose what sort of a story we will write with our own lives. Thus humans, together with God, write on the next, blank page of the one big story.

A year and a half ago, I gave in to my dear friend and neighbor, Ceci Van Zitter, and let her nominate me for the 2022 California Mother of the Year. I had no idea what to expect from AMI. Was the group liberal or conservative? Religious or anti-religious? Feminist or traditional? Over the past year, I have come to understand that AMI seeks to transcend those divisive categories by focusing on and celebrating motherhood, the building block of all societies.

With the gift of motherhood comes the opportunity to write a beautiful new page in the one big story. Our mothering stories are often filled with twists, turns, and tears, but we trust that we are in the hands of Someone who knows how to “write straight with our crooked lines.”

My heart-felt thanks go to Dorothy DeVore, Sharon Brown, and our 2023 California Mother of the Year, Jenny Cullumber! You three have been incredibly welcoming and supportive; I have greatly enjoyed this latest “chapter” of my mothering story. May God bless American Mothers, Inc.!